Category Archives: Digital skills

Walt Disney, the new generation is coming for you!

When I reflect over my years at primary school, the sort of lessons that stand out in my memory are without doubt the ones that were a little different from our normal day-to-day schedule. It was for this reason that the idea of teaching animation in a classroom really captured my imagination. I know for a fact that it would be the sort of thing I would have loved as a child and if done right, I can imagine it being a lot of fun to teach as well as to learn! I really appreciated the way that Sharon demonstrated (in just an hour!) how we could build up a child’s understanding and skills in the animation world through a number of different progressive lessons. As a class we went through the various stages, starting with the basics and moving onto sophisticated animated productions. I was introduced to programs that I had never even heard of before and was surprised to find how easy they were to use and to understand. In my experience, primary aged children can be exceptionally intuitive when working with technology and I can only imagine that a classroom full of children could produce some really interesting pieces of work! I particularly loved the idea that lessons such as these could be a new and interesting way to incorporate and develop various elements within the curriculum- language skills, IT skills and even communication skills. The workshop really helped me to start thinking about the various opportunities open to us as modern teachers with such a wide access to technology and equipment. There are so many different ways to capture children’s imagination within the confinements of a classroom and I feel both inspired and excited to start exploring this concept in more detail over the next few years!